Video Game Developers – Part 2

Video Game Developers – Part 2

In our previous blog we took a look at 3 of the best-known video game developers and some of their top games. If you haven’t seen it yet, the please do so as you will get to find out a little more about Namco Bandai, Activision and 343 Industries. Without further ado, we will now take a look at part 2 in our series of the best-known video game developers.

Capcom

If you have ever visited any games arcade then you will almost certainly have played on Capcom’s Street Fighter series. Headquartered in Osaka, Japan it has also developed a global presence with subsidiary companies in North America, East Asia and Europe. The name Capcom was born out of the amalgamation of two phrases which we synonymous with the company’s early development. A clipped compound of “Capsule Computers” saw Capcom born as the leader in arcade video game production. They have enjoyed massive success with a range of franchised games, including:

Street Fighter

Mega Man

Resident Evil

Devil May Cry

It’s very unlikely that as a games player you would have failed to see some of these smash-hit titles.

Codemasters

Codemasters is the first British based software developer we have discussed in this series of blog posts. Founded by brothers, Richard and David Darling back in 1986, Codemasters is one of the oldest British games producers. Over the years they have received a series of accolades for their work. None more important than when they were named “top independent games developer”, by Develop magazine. In the early days they focused on producing simulator style games, including:

Grand Prix Simulator

Pro Box Simulator

BMX Simulator

The games above would have all featured on 8-bit computer systems, such as; Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST. A series of racing games were the highlights of their mid-years, the most popular title being Colin McRae. Following the untimely death of Colin McRae, Codemasters put out a statement to his family expressing their sincere sadness. 2015 saw them produce their first non-racing title for over 4 years. Overlord: Fellowship of Evil is a fantasy action role playing game and can be found on the PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows and Xbox One.

Eidos Interactive

Another UK based software developer comes in the form of Eidos Interactive. The company was formed in 1990 and have put out some extremely well-known franchised games. Top titles include:

Hitman series

Tomb Raider series

Kane & Lynch series

Thief series

The company was acquired by Square Enix in 2009 and was merged into Square Enix Europe later that year. The game developers mentioned above might not be quite as well-known as some of the really big boys (exception Capcom); however, they have played an important role in shaping some of the game formats and styles that we see today. Stay tuned for the 3rd blog post where we take a look at some other games developers, their back-grounds and of course their most famous incarnations.